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The world has caught up with The Chap because its platform no longer seems eccentric or quirky.

Sir Roger’s Bond would dispatch a deadly snake by turning his shaving foam into a flamethrower with his cigar

Back then, role models such as Vinnie Jones were the mainstream ideal for men; The Chap, with its celebration of suave icons such as David Niven and Terry-Thomas, and its proposal for men to return to dressing well, waxing their moustaches and behaving like gentlemen, was only read by eccentrics in Soho basement clubs.

Today the gentlemanly version of masculinity is making a comeback. Even hard-men actors such as Tom Hardy display a set of principles that would have seemed alien to the go-getting generation of the early 21st century.

Let’s hope Hardy gets the role of James Bond and brings a bit more panache to the whole spectacle, setting standards closer to the heights set by Sir Roger Moore.

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Tom Hardy is in contention for the role of James Bond

The passing of Sir Roger last week has brought a surge of enthusiasm for the values he embodied, both as an actor and in his private life.

He spent his career portraying an endless series of playboys with pistols, which began in the 1960s with Lord Brett Sinclair in The Persuaders, alongside Tony Curtis as Danny Wilde.

The first episode opened with a fistfight between the two heroes over how many olives should be served in a Creole Scream cocktail.

Standards of civilised life had to be maintained by law enforcement agents, as well as national security. When Sir Roger won the role of Bond in 1973, aged 45, he made it a part of his personality and never begrudged the public expectation for him always to have 007 on tap.

There is a fabulous anecdote knocking round social media about a seven-year-old, Marc Haynes, meeting Sir Roger in an airport lounge in the 1970s and asking for his autograph.

The actor signs it with his own name and when the boy wonders why he didn’t sign it as James Bond, the star lowers his voice and explains that he is undercover in case any of Blofeld’s agents are around. Thirty years later, Haynes, now a scriptwriter, meets him at a charity event and reminds him of the autograph episode.

Sir Roger seems to have forgotten it but later privately refers in conspiratorial tones to still being followed by Blofeld agents.

His version of being Bond in public was as remote from today’s approach to the trials of fame as his portrayal of the secret agent himself.

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Roger Moore is James Bond in film 'For Your Eyes Only'

Sir Roger’s Bond would dispatch a deadly snake by turning his shaving foam into a flamethrower with his cigar, while wearing a silk dressing gown.

You can’t imagine him running around building sites in a black Lycra ensemble – like Daniel Craig – in pursuit of a villain. He would either have got someone else to do that or found a gadget that saved him making such an effort.

When first given the Bond role, he brought his three Savile Row tailors with him to make his outfits for Live And Let Die. Daniel Craig probably brings his own personal trainer.

While the modern Bond openly promotes Dutch lager – surely not a gentleman’s drink – Sir Roger’s Bond subtly promoted Dom Pérignon, by smashing a bottle of the champagne over Jaws’ head in The Spy Who Loved Me. “Maybe I misjudged Stromberg,” he says later of the villain.

“Any man who drinks Dom Pérignon ’52 can’t be all bad.”

The passing of Sir Roger, aged 89, after a short battle with cancer, has reminded us that the gentlemanly ideal is not some exclusive club; it’s an attitude to life that may be aspirational (aren’t we all?) but the thing it aspires to is a gentle, warm, dry-humoured state of mind that benefi ts everyone, not just its purveyor.

With men looking for guidance in all areas of life, not just their clothes, this means that there is so much more for The Chap to write about now, which is why the magazine has doubled in size.

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Sir Roger Moore, died aged 89, after a short battle with cancer

Chap magazine cover [CHAP]

In the early days it had features about “What is a brogue?” Today it’s more about how to look after your brogues and who else is wearing them.

The new issue has interviews with dandy tailor Joshua Kane, actor Richard E Grant and Iraqi dandies, bird-watching in an Aston Martin by Olly Smith (how Bond is that?), sartorial tips and a look at John Le Mesurier’s fascination with cricket.

He was another actor whose life embodied old-school nonchalance in line with his role as Sgt Wilson in Dad’s Army.

Le Mesurier began his Army career in the Second World War by reporting to barracks with a dinner jacket, gramophone records and a set of golf clubs.

When asked to carry out orders, his response was similar to Sgt Wilson’s: “Do we really have to drag that great big gun up the hill, sir? It really is an awful fag.”